The Choices Made
by Aningwel
Summary: Every choice made bears a consequece, whether it's a decision as big as sleeping with your best friend's love interest or as simple as taking a walk in the rain. [ShikaIno][AU]
1. The End of Always

**The Choices Made  
Chapter One: The End of Always  
**

* * *

It happens like this.

One minute you're a child. You make friends when you share your lunch in the cafeteria and best friends when you share your secrets on the playground. You fall down a lot and cry when you scrape your knees. You seek comfort in your parents' soothing embraces. You trust them, because they are the parents and they keep the bad things away, and when it comes down to it, you've made it this far so they must be taking pretty good care of you.

From day one, they teach you to embrace the possibilities. To hope. When you go to bed at night, they tell you to dream, and when you start pondering the concept of the future, they tell you to dream bigger. You believe them when they say you can be anything and do whatever you want- that the sky's the limit. You believe they'll always be there to hold you close when the nightmare strikes. You believe they'll always be there, period.

And if you can believe all that, why should you doubt them when they say that no matter what happens, they'll _always_ love you? It's just another lie you accept, because the idea of the people you trust the most turning on you is enough to make anyone paranoid.

Here's the truth, though:

Always ends in a moment. What that moment consists of may vary, but the result is inevitably the same. Always ends.

For Ino Yamanaka, the moment is defined in pieces. Air thick with tension. Silence wrought with anxiety. Three strangers that had been a family just minutes prior gathered around a kitchen table, waiting for a confession she'd do anything to not have to give.

They can't have been sitting there for a quarter of an hour, but for Ino it feels like years have passed. Like her entire life is slipping away with every second she spends stalling.

"Ino." To her right, her father gives her hand a gentle squeeze, urging her to tell them whatever it is she's summoned them here for.

She resists the urge to squeeze back. Instead, catching her mother's cool and calculating gaze across the table, she pulls away and clasps both hands firmly in her lap.

Inoichi frowns. "What's the matter, kiddo?"

_Kiddo. _For a moment, she muses absently on the pet name. Then she bows her head in shame, because even though she's protested that she's not a kid anymore for years, she knows it has never been so inaccurate in all her life as it is in this moment. It doesn't fit anymore. It will never fit again.

Her life continues to pass her by as she struggles to find the words to tell them how she's ruined her life. How all the time and effort they put into raising her to be a model citizen has been in vain. She wants to cry into her father's shoulder like she did when she _was_ a kid, finding comfort in the affectionate way he patted her head. Her father has always been the understanding one, and she has never needed him to understand as badly as she does now.

She sees the concern etched into every line on his face and tears come unbidden to her eyes. As she bites down on her lip to keep them from spilling over, her hand rises subconsciously to her flat stomach. It's not the confession she planned on- she hadn't planned the motion at all, but her mother is nothing if not excessively analytical. She never misses a thing, and this tiny gesture is no exception.

"Ino," she begins, and her voice wavers uncertainly. She looks up to meet her daughter's eyes and blanches when she finds her own horror reflected there. "Oh, Ino, _no._"

"Mom, it wasn't… I didn't mean…"

Inoichi looks between the two, oblivious.

_And of course he is, _Ino tells herself. There is no way that Inoichi, who began doting on her before she took her first breath of life, and who hasn't stopped doting for even a moment since then, could ever expect something like this of his baby girl. There is no way he could even consider her capable of something so horrible.

And yet.

Ino isn't sure which breaks first. It might be the mixing bowl that falls from her mother's lap when she jumps to her feet and turns away to bury her face in her hands. It might be her father's heart when he realizes that she _is_, in fact, capable of something so horrible. It might be her own resolve, but whatever the case, she finds herself in a room full of shattered glass, green eyes full of devastation, and the sound of her own broken sobs.

"Ino," her father finally manages to choke out. "You're not… You can't be serious."

She adopts her mother's position, pressing her hands to her face in the desperate hope that if she can't see the scene before her, it isn't happening. The sudden silence almost convinces her that it's worked. And then the calm gives way to the storm.

"Who-" Inoichi begins, just as his wife whirls back around to face her. "Ino, how could you _do _this? What were you _thinking?" _

They are yelling over each other now, each attacking in their own way- her mother with accusations (_"I can't believe you did this! What is the _matter _with you?"_) and her father with questions (_"Who? When Why didn't you tell us sooner?") _

She is buffeted with a thousand demands, none of which she knows how to answer. What good would it have done to tell them sooner? Even if she'd come to them right after, it wouldn't change the outcome. What _is _the matter with her?

She realizes somewhere amidst the chaos of the raging war that there was one she knew the answer to. What was she thinking? The answer should be obvious. She _wasn't _thinking. If she _had _stopped to think about it, there was no doubt in her mind that they would not be in this situation now. If she'd thought about it, she never would have done it, because common sense was all it would have taken to know that doing so would ruin everything. If she had stopped to _think _about it, she would not be sitting here now, terrified by the yells tearing through the kitchen like knives. If she had stopped to _think _about it, she wouldn't have found herself in a state of shock when the doctor came in with the news she'd forced herself into asking for. If she had stopped to _think _about it, she would not be avoiding the one person she had always been able to go to in times of need. If she had stopped to _think _about it, she'd be eating a peaceful dinner with her parents right now. Not wishing the floor would open up and eat her alive. Not trying to convince herself that in just a while she would wake up to find it had all been a horrible dream.

If she had stopped to think about it, the only thing that would be growing inside of her right now would be the hope that she'd remain the daughter who could do no wrong forever. She'd still be her father's kiddo, and her mother would tolerate her. Always.

Always ended in a moment.

* * *

_Author's Note: _So, this is just another AU idea that hit me upon my return to Fanfiction. I'm pretty excited about this one, but I think it's going to be a bit challenging to keep everyone in character with the storyline. I'm going to do my very best to live up to everyone's' expectations, so stick around and we'll see how it goes! As usual, thanks for reading. See you for chapter two! And, if it's not too much to ask, please take a second to let me know what you thought. Thanks! ~Ani

_Author's Note (2): _This is a repost. I've moved to a new account since I first posted this in April 2012, so I'm hoping that in posting it here, I'll be inspired to continue. The above was the original A/N from nearly a year ago!


	2. Wake of the Storm

**The Choices Made**  
**Chapter Two: Wake of the Storm**

* * *

Sunday night. The clock on the wall reads 11:24 p.m- its rhythmic ticking is all she can hear over her own uneven breaths. She's cried enough these past few days to recognize the signs of another oncoming fit of hysteria, but almost as common as her breakdowns are her conflicted father's late-night wanderings through the house, and she knows what will happen if he catches her sobbing again.

* * *

He found her like this Friday night, just hours after her confession. He'd spent the time between attempting to console his distraught wife. When that failed, he'd ventured cautiously up the stairs and knocked quietly on his daughter's door. Until that point, she'd been sitting on the floor, face buried in her hands as she focused on suppressing the whirring torrent of emotions inside her. Later, she would laugh sardonically as she wondered how such a small, simple gesture was enough to destroy her resolve where the memory of her mother's tears had not.

Her father rarely bothered to knock on her door. It was an annoying habit, and one that was probably strategically designed in the hopes of preventing situations exactly like the one she found herself in now. The man assumed that just because she was forced into submission under his relentless supervision, she'd never dare to do anything… _indecent_ beyond the confines of their home.

Right. _Shows what you know, Daddy_, she'd thought dryly before cringing at the sudden, sharp pang of guilt. _I'm so sorry. _

She half-expected him to barge on in when she made no move to open the door, but all that followed was a voice full of concern. "Ino? Are you in there? Are you alright?"

Of course she was there. She didn't want to go back out into the cruel world. She'd gladly stay in this room forever, if it meant she could wake up to find the past twenty-four hours had all just been a dream. "I'm here," she choked out through the tears that had sprung, unbidden, to her sapphire eyes. "You can come in."

The door swung open slowly to reveal a crestfallen Inoichi. Sea-foam orbs that had previously only ever shone with delight, even in the darkest of times, were now dull and wide with disbelief. Beyond them, though, she could tell he'd had his hopes up. That he'd expected to open the door and find her grinning on the bed, amused with her cruel prank. He'd be furious, of course, but his shoulders would fall as he let out a sigh of relief. Instead, he found her in a dark corner across the room, her back to the wall, shaking arms wound tight around her knees. She was sure he'd heard his heart shatter.

That night and three other times since, he'd confronted her, hoping she'd be willing to talk if it was just the two of them face-to-face. In a way, it did make it easier. Her father did not lash out and remind her what a selfish, ungrateful child she was each time she tried to speak. Her father did not presume to know what had happened to bring her to this point. He wanted to, though –or at least he _thought _he did. More than once he'd asked (quite shakily, his voice dark with warning) if someone had forced themself on her. The first time she'd laugh just as darkly through her tears. She was stunned speechless when she realized he was serious. And then she'd blushed furiously and muttered unintelligibly to herself. It was only after much prodding and the revelation that he wouldn't stop asking that she reluctantly told him "No. It wasn't like that."

"So what _was _it like?" he'd almost pleaded. "Who's done this to my baby girl?"

But she'd just shook her head. That was all she was ready to give him for now.

She hadn't opened up any more in the two days that followed. In fact, she'd been evasively treading on eggshells. Where Inoichi made a surprising attempt to stay calm, her mother had become unstable. One moment she was content to close her eyes and comment on the home cooked meal before them, ready to shut it all out. The next, it was like reality had suddenly slapped her in the face, and she was wailing with the injustice of it all.

Ino wanted to help her. She really did. She wished there was something she could say to make it easier somehow, to take the weight off her mother's frail shoulders. But there were no words to undo a mistake of this magnitude, so instead she spoke as little as possible. There was no telling what would set the woman off, and Ino was sick from hurting them both, so she did what she could to keep to herself.

Her mother was fine with this arrangement. When they weren't eating, she willingly left her daughter to her own devices. All of Saturday and most of today, they'd seen each other only over their plates.

Until her bedroom door was flung open this afternoon- without no regards for privacy. Her mom had been cool and composed then, eerily calm in the wake of all the previous commotion. "Tomorrow's Monday," she'd said simply.

Ino had frowned. "Yes?"

"It's a school day."

"Oh." She'd looked away quickly, gaze falling to the fidgeting hands in her lap. "Mom, can't I have just one more day? I'm not sure I'm-"

"No." Her mom crossed the threshold and proceeded across the room, tossing a fallen pillow onto the unmade bed. "No, Ino. You can't stay home."

"But, Mom!" Ino began, only to be cut off when her own remorseless sapphire stare turned back on her.

"You're going to get up in the morning, and you're going to go to school. You seem confident that that girl isn't going to say anything, but it's a small town and rumors spread fast. You are not going to be absent tomorrow and let them build. Do _not _interrupt me, Ino," she'd snapped when the girl opened her mouth to protest. "If no one's said anything, you'll walk in there and tell them you were sick and be done with it for the time being. If that girl's gone and run her mouth, then…"

Ino's voice trembled with unshed tears. "It's _Sakura_, mom. She wouldn't do that!"

The woman closed her eyes and pressed a palm to her face in frustration. "Ino. If you never remember anything else I tell you, remember this. People can be awful. Especially teenagers. Especially _female _teenagers. Especially when…" Her voice trailed off, but she didn't need to finish the thought. Ino knew what she'd been about to say, anyway.

_Especially when you're caught sleeping with their boyfriend._

* * *

11:43 p.m. Ino squinted at the clock in the pale glow emitted by the window and groaned quietly. If her mom was really going to make her go through with this, she'd need to be awake and getting ready to go in six measly hours. But as she lie there, hands folded atop her stomach and her mind a thousand miles away, sleep eluded her. She was not looking forward to the day ahead.

_It'll be alright, _she tried to calm herself. _She won't have told anyone. She may be mad, but she's still my friend- right? _She nodded sagely. Of course Sakura was angry Friday. She'd had every right to be and Ino didn't blame her a bit. But the weekend was over now, and surely by now she'd had plenty of time to calm down and think it through. Come tomorrow, though there would be tension, they'd be able to sit across from each other and talk things through. Everything would be okay.

She'd been that incorrect only once before.

* * *

_Author's Note: _Woohoo. I really wasn't _planning_ on writing this tonight, but that's what happens when you're beaming at your unexpected, super appreciated reviews and determined to put off homework (especially when it's why you dug out your laptop in the first place!) Anyway, I hope those of you whose attention I piqued with chapter one came back and found some enjoyment in the second installment.

Big thanks to I'm Not a Princess, zeroplus, kimochichokimochi, ShikaIno1, xxdevilishxx, Otowa Nekozawa, and drinkthatliquorstore for your thoughts and the encouragement to continue!

To drinkthatliquorstore- I've never seen Juno! I've heard great things about it, and I really want to, but I guess you'll get to find out if this fic is similar or not on your own! (-is useless-)

And to xxdevilishxx, YES. Reviews ARE pretty good for motivation and inspiration, and I'm very grateful for all those who take the time to leave them! That goes for everyone reading, as well- I appreciate everything you have to say whether it's good or bad- although if I've lost you already, I'd be glad if you'd let me know why. So yeah! I'll keep my fingers crossed to hear from each and every one of you, and next time I promise individual responses!

Hope to see you all back for chapter three- coming soon!


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